Meeting with Roger Ballen will take place on November, 2, at 6 p.m.
Location: ROSPHOTO Conference hall
Admission is free.

State Museum and Exhibition Centre for Photography ROSPHOTO
Supported by
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

SHADOW LAND: PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROGER BALLEN 1983-2011

01.11.2012 — 19.12.2012

Opening: Wednesday, 31 October 2012 at 18:00
Front Building exhibition hall, 3 floor


Shadow Land is internationally-acclaimed photographer, Roger Ballen’s first major exhibition in Russia. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their own minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own.

Ballen is one of the most important photographers of his generation. He was born in New York in 1950 but for over 30 years he has lived and worked in South Africa. His work as a geologist took him out into the veldt and led him to take up his camera and explore the hidden world of small South African towns. At first he explored the empty streets in the glare of the midday sun but, once he had made the step of knocking on people’s doors, he discovered a world inside these houses which was to have a profound effect on his work. These interiors with their distinctive collections of objects and the occupants within these closed worlds took his unique vision on a path from social critique to the creation of metaphors for the inner mind. After 1994 he no longer looked to the countryside for his subject matter finding it closer to home in Johannesburg.

This retrospective presented at ROSPHOTO covers three decades of work from his early series, Dorps and the highly charged and controversial series’ Platteland, Outland, Shadow Chamber and Boarding House through to unseen new work from the series, Asylum.

In addition to his photographs visitors can see his recent collaborations with filmmaker Saskia Vredeveld and Zef- style rap-rave crew, Die Antwoord for whom he directed the YouTube video sensation to their song I fink u freeky.